3/5/2009
20
Fort Saint
Around
the fort, the windswept ground was textured with holes, scree,
and—sand. The sand lodged wherever it could find a crevasse
or projection to hold it, and piled along anything that was
stationary. The ground directly before Fort Saint was unusually
flat, forming a large rectangular area. From the towers, Paul
earlier noted the exactness and full dimensions of this area, and in
his spare time, he measured it. Paul
found the sides, although the corners were hidden
in blown sand. Using his best approximation, they were nearly
the same length. The sides of the area lay aligned with the
compass, the long sides to the north and south, 50 meters in length by
40 meters in width. By the ancient Egyptian scale, that was
approximately 100 by 80 royal cubits. Paul estimated the level
of the area exceeded almost two centimeters over the entire
shape. The perfection of the alignment and level and the
measure of the area excited his archeological interest.
Before
he’d become a soldier, Paul had studied archeology….